RELEASE-NOTES

   1 = MediaWiki release notes =
   2
   3 Security reminder: MediaWiki does not require PHP's register_globals
   4 setting since version 1.2.0. If you have it on, turn it *off* if you can.
   5
   6 == MediaWiki 1.7 ==
   7
   8 THIS IS NOT A RELEASE YET.
   9
  10 MediaWiki is now using a "continuous integration" development model with
  11 quarterly snapshot releases. The latest development code is always kept
  12 "ready to run", and in fact runs our own sites on Wikipedia.
  13
  14 Release branches will continue to receive security updates for about a year
  15 from first release, but nonessential bugfixes and feature development happen
  16 will be made on the development trunk and appear in the next quarterly release.
  17
  18 Those wishing to use the latest code instead of a branch release can obtain
  19 it from source control: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download_from_SVN
  20
  21 == Changes since 1.6 ==
  22
  23 * (bug 5458) Fix double-URL encoding in block log link in contribs and contribs
  24   link in block log
  25 * (bug 5462) Bogus missing patch warning in updater
  26 * (bug 5461) Use of deprecated "showhideminor" in Special:Recentchangeslinked
  27 * PHP warning when allow_call_time_pass_reference is off
  28 * Update to Finnish localization
  29 * (bug 5467) Link to page histories in watchlist edit mode
  30 * Further additions to Hebrew localisation
  31 * (bug 5476) Invalid xhtml in German localization
  32 * (bug 5479) Id translation for preferences tabs caption
  33 * (bug 5493) Id translation for special pages
  34 * Added skinname and style path parameters to CBT version of MonoBook
  35 * Include subversion revision number in Special:Version if available
  36 * (bug 5344) Fix regression that broke slashes in extension tag parameters
  37 * Improve Special:Log performance on big log sets
  38 * (bug 5507) Changed mediawiki:logouttext from plain to wikitext
  39 * (bug 4760) Prevent creation of entries in protection log when protection levels haven't changed
  40 * (bug 861) Show page protection/unprotection events in histories
  41 * (bug 5499) Don't clear the tag strip state when asked not to clear state.
  42   Fixes regression with use of <ref> in a template breaking <nowiki> etc.
  43 * Minor grammatical improvements in English language files
  44 * Display the anon talk page info message on anon talk pages again
  45   (moved outside the parser cache)
  46 * Optional {{DISPLAYTITLE|title with markup}} magic word
  47   Deactivated by default, set "$wgAllowDisplayTitle = true" in LocalSettings.php to activate
  48 * Cleaned SpecialContributions a bit
  49 * Added a table to track interlanguage links
  50 * (bug 5544) Fix redirect arrow in Special:Listredirects for right-to-left languages
  51 * Replace "doubleredirectsarrow" with a content language check that picks the appropriate arrow
  52
  53 == Compatibility ==
  54
  55 Older PHP 4.2 and 4.1 releases are no longer supported; PHP 4 users must
  56 upgrade to 4.3 or later.
  57
  58 MediaWiki 1.6 is the last major version to support PHP 4; future versions
  59 will require PHP 5.
  60
  61 MySQL 3.23.x is longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
  62 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
  63
  64
  65 == Upgrading ==
  66
  67 Several changes to the database have been made from 1.5; these are relatively
  68 minor but do require that the update process be run before the new code will
  69 work properly:
  70
  71 * A new "templatelinks" table tracks template inclusions.
  72 * A new "externallinks" table tracks URL links; this can be used by a
  73   mass spam-cleanup tool in the SpamBlacklist extension.
  74 * A new "jobs" table stores a queue of pages to update in the background; this
  75   is used to update links in including pages when templates are edited.
  76
  77 To ensure that these tables are filled with data, run refreshLinks.php after
  78 the upgrade.
  79
  80
  81 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
  82 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
  83 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
  84
  85 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
  86
  87
  88
  89 === Caveats ===
  90
  91 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
  92 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
  93 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
  94 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
  95 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
  96
  97
  98 For notes on 1.5.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
  99
 100
 101 === Online documentation ===
 102
 103 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 104 built up on Meta-Wikipedia, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 105 License:
 106
 107   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 108
 109
 110 === Mailing list ===
 111
 112 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 113 wikitech-l list:
 114
 115   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 116
 117 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 118
 119   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 120
 121 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 122 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 123
 124
 125 === IRC help ===
 126
 127 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net